The Major and the Country Miss

The Major and the Country Miss

Back of the Book

Major William Maitland returns a hero from the war, only to find himself tasked with the strangest mission--hunting down the lost heir to his uncle's fortune.

He sets out to rural Warwickshire to uncover the twenty-year-old secret, but has no idea that meeting an old army friend will lead him to the key to the mystery. Or that his friend's cousin, the beautiful Georgianne Venables, will prove to be his own personal Waterloo. For Georgianne has a secret of her own that could stand in the way of Will ever winning her hand in marriage....

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Dorothy Elbury's Bio

Dorothy was born in the northeast of England and still considers herself a "Geordie"even though her family moved to the south shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, when her father's services as a firefighter were required, firstly in Coventry and then in London.

She started her schooling in South London and, no sooner had she learned to read than she was continually being reprimanded for "always having her nose in a book." Moving on to a South London grammar school, she read her way through most of the fiction in the junior department of the local library, at the same time scribbling out little stories of her own to pass around her form mates, who were always keen to read the "next episode." Working her way through the adult library led her to a keen interest in social history and an introduction to Georgette Heyer's novels lit the flame for all things Regency!

Leaving school Dorothy worked firstly in the head office of the Midland Bank and subsequently in an assurance company, where she met and ultimately married John, whose occupation as an insurance inspector required him to be appointed to several of the company's other branches throughout the country. This entailed moving house a total of seven times from London to Hampshire and thence to Leicestershire, Warwickshire and, finally, Lincolnshire, during which period Dorothy produced two daughters and a son, acquired four grandchildren and a great grandson while, at the same time, working her way through the collections of all the local libraries in each of these venues. Having helped set up and run various playgroups throughout her own children's early years, it was not long before she was persuaded to try her hand at primary school teaching and, after undergoing a three-year course for mature students at Leicester, she spent the next fifteen years doing just that. Here, she was able to share her own passion for reading with her pupils and always made a point of ensuring that no child ever left her class unable to read and write!

Forever on the verge of "writing a novel," Dorothy still spent all of her free time with her "nose in some book or other" until, one day, having retired from teaching and finding herself with nothing to read and time hanging heavy on her hands, she started to scribble the first paragraphs of what would eventually become A Hasty Betrothal. As a finished piece, it lay untouched in the darkest recess of an attic cupboard for a year or so until she was finally cajoled into allowing her husband and daughters to read the manuscript. Another year passed, with her husband continually suggesting that she should send it off to a publisher. More to appease him than for any other reason, Dorothy sent off the first three chapters of her story to Mills & Boon. Some months later, imagine her surprise and excitement when, having virtually given up hope of hearing anything more about her work, she received a request for the remainder of the manuscript, followed shortly by a telephone call informing her that, with one or two minor adjustments, Mills & Boon were prepared to accept her story! This, of course, spurred Dorothy to get back to the keyboard and, in the six years following that earlier success, she has been lucky enough to have five further novels accepted by Mills & Boon. Having recently celebrated 51 years of marriage to John, who is the primary editor of all her writing, she now considers herself well versed in the "language of love" and is currently at work on her seventh Regency romance. The moral of this story (according to Dorothy's husband) is, "You should never hide your light under a bushel!"